Prahlad Yeri's Blog

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

I've been a frequent user of online e-commerce sites, ordering goods and services since a long time. I've never had any issues with Flipkart.

However, since I recently moved to an area near Hubli,India where Flipkart's services weren't available, I decided to try this much hyped new service called SnapDeal.
My experience with this service turned out to be very bad. I ordered the ZTE MF190 3G Data Card on 4th of September, 2014 (6 days ago). It was expected to be delivered yesterday. However, it hasn't arrived even now and when I go and track the order on the site, it is showing the same status since 5th:

"Your order is packed and waiting for the courier pickup"

I then visited my local Hubli warehouse of SnapDeal who said they haven't received the product. Turns out that the seller hasn't event shipped the product yet!
On call support has turned out to be very pathetic. All they say is that they are working on the issue and a solution will be provided in the next 24-48 hours (more than 48 hours have been passed since). Any support ticket that I raise on their site returns this stereotypical message to my mailbox:

Dear Prahlad,Thank you for contacting Snapdeal.com.This
in regards to your Order Number 2764916287. We apologize for the delay
in the shipment of your order. Our team is working on resolving this
matter at the earliest. We will contact and share the status with you
with in 24-48hrs. Please be rest assured as your money is covered under
Trust Pay.In case of any further assistance or clarification on this issue, please reply back to this email.Assuring you of our best services always,Yours sincerely,Customer Service Team – Snapdeal.com

Dunno when will I receive my product, I'll keep this post updated. But whatever happens, I'm never going to buy anything from the SnapDeal people again!

Edit on 15th September: Today is 11th day since I ordered, and still the status is same as on 5th:

"Your order is packed and waiting for the courier pickup"

I've raised a complain on mouthshut.com, but still no action apart from the "We are looking into it.".

Edit on 15th September (6:00 PM IST): Just received an SMS and email to my mobile saying that my product is shipped. Looks like it might be delivered soon, but still all uncertainty. The status has now chaanged to:

"Your order is shipped and will reach you by the estimated delivery date"

Still fingers crossed. Even if it comes, I'm not happy now. Justice delayed is Justice denied.

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

If you or any of your acquaintances staying in the city of Pune in India have ever suffered from a lung infection or disease, then it may not be "just a co-incidence". Read on to find out why.

How it all began:
Since the very first days I started my job as a Software Developer in Pune around seven years ago, I used to feel the heaviness in the air here. It was especially so, since I came from a small city in Gujarat where, thankfully, we still have some green areas left.

I soon learned from my colleagues at office that coughs, colds and infections were a frequent occurrence among those coming from smaller towns. Years passed by, and this menace of air pollution kept its pace with the city's progress in Information Technology. Quite recently, a close acquaintance of mine had a major pulmonary lung infection, and that was when I started wondering whether its really worth the pay to continue working here.

Strangely enough, people here have become accustomed to it. Lots of my friends accept this as an occupational hazard, and who cares if you are sick for a few days if the firms pay you the top level salaries in the country. Before taking any decisions, I decided to do a quick research on how serious is the issue.

Statistics:
One of the accepted measures of air pollution is the level of RSPM (Respirable Suspended Particulate Matter) in air. These are air particles smaller than 10 micrometers in diameter that can cause serious damage to your lungs and respiratory system. According to this TOI article, Pune has the highest levels of RSPM in the state.

To verify current RSPM levels, I glanced at the air pollution data provided by MPCB (Maharashtra Pollution Control Board) for the last few days. According to the state board's statistics, RSPM levels at Karve Road, a busy area in Pune is consistently above the acceptance levels by a margin of 50%. Not just that, but the acceptance levels in Residential areas is 100 ug/m3, whereas that of Industrial areas is 150 ug/m3. Now, the average RSPM reading at Karve Road is 162 ug/m3 (which is more than the industrial limit!)

Karve Road (Pune)

For benchmarks, I also had a look at RSPM levels at other cities of Maharashtra like Sangli and Nashik. While occasionally the RSPM readings were above limit in these cities too, the average was certainly below the Residential threshold. Furthermore, even the RSPM levels at Mumbai, the industrial hub of India was found to be lower than that of Pune!

Nashik

Sangli

Sion (Mumbai)

Health Effects of Particulate Matter:
Now, what does it really mean to your respiratory health if RSPM levels are high? While finding answer to this question, my research led me to EPA's website. EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) is United State's foremost institute that deals with environmental health hazards. According to EPA, the size of the air particles is directly linked to their potential for causing health problems. In the words of EPA:

"Small particles less than10 micrometers
in diameter pose the greatest problems, because they can get deep
into your lungs, and some may even get into your bloodstream.
Exposure to such particles can affect both your lungs and your heart."

increased respiratory symptoms, such as irritation of the airways, coughing or difficulty breathing.

Causes:
Now, for anyone staying in Pune for long time, its not hard to guess what might have caused this. Firstly, there are lots of under-construction buildings in Pune which causes a substantial increase in the amount of dust in air, thus increasing the RSPM levels.
Secondly, the rampant increase in the amount of vehicles, coupled by the fact that all auto-rickshaws and city buses are using pollutant fueling engines instead of using the greener CNG has resulted in a massive increase in carbon gases, again raising the RSPM levels.

Conclusion and Remedial measures:
While I'm no expert on Green Technology, but common sense suggests that curbing the activities causing the rise in RSPM levels or making alternative arrangements might save the day for Pune before its too late.
The first thing that should happen is improvisation in public transport system. Need of the hour is for the government and public to come together and join hands to resolve this. Also needed are steps to curb dust pollution caused by under construction buildings.
Whilst your lungs are still functioning in these high RSPM levels for Nature is benevolent, but do remember that there is a limit on her benevolence too! Act now, before its too late.